Selecting skin care products based on skin condition scanning

Abstract

Skin condition scanning allows one to more easily find products that match the condition of their skin. Based on a skin condition scan, a person can view products appropriate for their skin condition such as skin type, oiliness or oil balance, fine lines or wrinkles, or hydration, of a combination. A scanning device is used to scan two or more locations of a person's skin. For example, three different locations of the face can be scanned, such as the forehead and cheek and near the eyes. The scan determines a skin condition result for the person's skin.

The invention claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 providing a scanning device, wherein the scanning device comprises a smartphone and a sensor assembly, the smartphone comprises one or more camera lenses on a back side of the smartphone, the sensor assembly comprises a client side, a device side opposing the client side, and one or more lenses on the client side, the device side of the sensor assembly is attached to the back side of the smartphone so as to allow the one or more camera lenses and the one or more lenses, and the scanning device further comprises a scanner display on a front side of the smartphone, so that while the client side of the sensor assembly on which the one or more lenses are located is placed directly against a customer's skin of a customer, the scanner display remains visible on the front side, and the scanning device is configured to determine a final skin guide result;   after the client side being placed directly against the customer's skin at a first location, using the scanning device to perform a first scan to generate a first intermediate result reflective of the first location, wherein a final skin guide result for the customer is unavailable for display on the scanner display after the first scan and before a second scan has been performed;   after the client side being placed directly against the customer's skin at a second location, using the scanning device to perform the second scan to generate a second intermediate result reflective of the second location, wherein the first intermediate result and the second intermediate result are stored on the smartphone;   using the first and second intermediate results to determine the final skin guide result that is reflective of the first and the second locations; and   displaying the final skin guide result on the scanner display, wherein the final skin guide result comprises an indication of a skin type.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the, the final skin guide result further comprises a separate indication of one or more skin type characteristics leading to the indication of the skin type as well as one or more programmatically determined results that respectively correspond to the one or more skin type characteristics, and the skin type has a string or char data type, and the final skin guide result comprises an indication of a degree of oiliness of the customer's skin. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the final skin guide result comprises an indication of a pore size of the customer's skin. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the final skin guide result comprises an indication of a degree of lines or wrinkles on the customer's skin. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the final skin guide result comprises an indication of a degree of hydration of the customer's skin. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 after being placed directly against the customer's skin at a third location, using the scanning device to perform a third scan to generate a third intermediate result reflective of the third location,   instead of the using only the first and second intermediate results to calculate the final skin guide result that is reflective of first and second locations, using the first, second, and third intermediate results to calculate the final skin guide result that is reflective of the first, the second, and the third locations.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the scanning device determines the final skin guide result based at least in part on three or more scans. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 providing a server, accessible by the scanning device that comprises a customer database configured to store a plurality of customer skin guide results associated with a plurality of customer identifiers.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8  comprising:
 at the customer database, receiving from the scanning device a first skin guide result and a first customer identifier; and 
 updating the customer database to store the first skin guide result associated with the first customer identifier. 
 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9  wherein each of the plurality of customer identifiers comprises at least one e-mail address. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10  wherein for the first customer identifier, from the server, sending to the at least one e-mail address corresponding to the first customer identifier the final skin guide result. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1  wherein using the scanning device to perform the first scan comprises:
 emitting a first light of a first wavelength and performing a first scan during the first scan while the customer's skin at the first location is exposed to the first light; and 
 emitting a second light of a second wavelength and performing a separate scan during the first scan while the customer's skin at the first location is exposed to the second light, 
 wherein the second wavelength is different from the first wavelength. 
 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12  wherein the first wavelength is an ultraviolet light. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the scanning device comprises the smartphone, the sensor assembly is positioned adjacent the one or more camera lenses of the smartphone, and the sensor assembly further comprises two or more light-emitting diodes and a lens aligned with the camera. 
     
     
         15 . The method or  claim 1 , further comprising:
 displaying, on the scanner display, a recommendation for one or more cosmetic products for improving a skin type characteristic for the indication of the skin type.   
     
     
         16 . The method or  claim 1 , further comprising:
 displaying, on the scanner display, the indication of the skin type, wherein the indication comprises a first indication of the skin type and a second indication of the skin type, the first indication of the skin type is determined based at least in part upon a result of the first scan and the second scan, and the second indication is displayed based at least in part upon an input by the customer.   
     
     
         17 . A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored thereupon a sequence of instructions which, when executed by a microprocessor, causes the microprocessor to execute a set of acts, the set of acts comprising:
 providing a scanning device, wherein the scanning device comprises a smartphone and a sensor assembly, the smartphone comprises one or more camera lenses on a back side of the smartphone, the sensor assembly comprises a client side, a device side opposing the client side, and one or more lenses on the client side, the device side of the sensor assembly is attached to the back side of the smartphone so as to allow the one or more camera lenses and the one or more lenses, and the scanning device further comprises a scanner display on a front side of the smartphone, so that while the client side of the sensor assembly on which the one or more lenses are located is placed directly against a customer's skin of a customer, the scanner display remains visible on the front side, and the scanning device is configured to determine a final skin guide result;   after being placed directly against the customer's skin at a first location, using the scanning device to perform a first scan to generate a first intermediate result reflective of the first location, wherein the final skin guide result for the customer is unavailable for display on the scanner display after the first scan and before a second scan has been performed;   after being placed directly against the customer's skin at a second location, using the scanning device to perform the second scan to generate a second intermediate result reflective of the second location, wherein the first intermediate result and the second intermediate result are stored on the smartphone;   using the first and second intermediate results to determine the final skin guide result that is reflective of the first and the second locations; and   displaying the final skin guide result on the scanner display, wherein the final skin guide result comprises an indication of a skin type.   
     
     
         18 . A method comprising:
 providing a scanning device comprising a smartphone, wherein the scanning device comprises a smartphone and a sensor assembly, the smartphone comprises one or more camera lenses on a back side of the smartphone, the sensor assembly comprises a client side, a device side opposing the client side, and one or more lenses on the client side, the device side of the sensor assembly is attached to the back side of the smartphone so as to allow the one or more camera lens of the smartphone and the one or more lenses of the sensory assembly, and the scanning device further comprises a scanner display on a front side of the smartphone, so that while the client side of the sensor assembly on which the one or more sensors are located is directed at a customer's skin of a customer, the display remains visible on the first side, and the scanning device is configured to determine a final skin condition result;   while the one or more sensors of the sensor assembly and the one or more camera lens of the smartphone are pointed toward the customer's skin at a first location, using the at least one camera lens of the smartphone and at least one lens of the sensor assembly to perform a first scan to generate a first intermediate result reflective of the first location, wherein a final skin condition result for the customer is unavailable for display on the display after the first scan and before a second scan has been performed;   while the at least one camera lens and the at least one lens are pointed toward the customer's skin at a second location, using the at least one camera lens of the smartphone and the at least one lens of the sensor assembly to perform the second scan to generate a second intermediate result reflective of the second location, wherein the first intermediate result and the second intermediate result are stored on the smartphone;   using the first and second intermediate results to determine the final skin condition result that is reflective of the first and second locations; and   displaying the final skin condition result on the scanner display, wherein the final skin condition result comprises at least one of an indication of a skin type, a degree of oiliness or oil balance of the customer's skin, a pore size of the customer's skin, a degree of lines or wrinkles on the customer's skin, or a degree of hydration of the customer's skin, or any combination thereof.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18  wherein the first scan comprises a magnified view of the customer's skin at the first location. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 18  wherein the final skin condition result does not comprise an indication of a skin tone or skin color of the customer. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 18  wherein the light-emitting diodes comprise a first light-emitting diode that emits light of a first wavelength, a second light-emitting diode that emits light of a second wavelength, and the first wavelength is different from the second wavelength. 
     
     
         22 . The method or  claim 21  wherein the first wavelength comprises ultraviolet light.